All UN Member States have recognised that the human right to water and the human right to sanitation are part of binding international human rights law.

This publication gathers the evidence of the universal recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation: it gives an overview of the most important resolutions and declarations that recognise the human rights to water and sanitation, including the positions that individual states have taken when those documents were adopted. For 77 countries, it also lists their individual positions and how these have changed over time.

The document has previously served as an internal reference guide for Amnesty International and WASH United. We are publishing it to help others identify the position that their country has taken on the human rights to water and sanitation, to advocate for the rights in their own national contexts, to ensure that these rights will not be ignored in the formulation and implementation of national water and sanitation laws and policy, and to help advance strategic litigation before national, regional and international justice mechanisms.

Gonzalez, C., Khalfan, A., Lande, L. van de, Neumeyer, H. and Scannellad, P., 2015. Recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation by UN Member States at the international level : an overview of resolutions and declarationsthat recognise the human rights to water and sanitation. London, UK and Berlin, Germany: Amnesty International and WASH United. 124 p.

“If women can have moustaches we can all talk about menstruation”. With this message WASH United kicked off May MENSTRAVAGANZA, a 28-day campaign to raise awareness and break the silence around menstruation and menstrual hygiene.

WASH United is one of the 12 finalists in Ashoka’s Changemakers ”Changing Lives Through Football” Competition.

Set up by set up by German NGO Brot für die Welt, WASH United uses the power of football to catalyse social change and engage top international and African football stars as role models to promote safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all in Sub-Saharan Africa leading up to and following the 2010 World Cup.

“Winning the competition would not only mean to raise the profile of our campaign, but also help to fund our work for safe drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for all people, everywhere”, says WASH United.

Winners are eligible to win a total of USD $90,000 in prizes, including a US$ 30,000 first prize for the global winner, and US$ 10,000 each for the three regional winners.

Hamburger SV football player Jonathan Pitroipa played the “World Toilet Cup” game in his home country of Burkina Faso where he launched the WASH United campaign on 4 June 2010. First introduced in November 2009 during the second Africa Water Week in Johannesburg, South Africa, the “World Toilet Cup” game makes a symbolic effort at tackling the sanitation crisis in Africa by trying to kick as many brown “poo balls” as possible into latrines and toilets.

WASH United is an initiative set up by German NGO Brot für die Welt linking international organisations with football stars like Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben to promote safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. In the campaign, leading up to the 2010 World Cup, WASH United focuses on promoting safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all in eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Mali, Lesotho, Uganda and Tanzania.

In addition to activities in the WASH United target countries, there are also targeted activities taking place in Europe to raise awareness for the importance of water and sanitation among the general public and political decision makers.

Besides WASH related games like the “World Toilet Cup”, WASH United has developed promotional posters and Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for radio and TV. There are briefing papers for each target country aimed at decision makers, and there is a curriculum (consisting both of classroom materials and football-based games) that uses the power of football and the role model status of the football stars.

WASH United’s international partners include not only sector organisations like WaterAid, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the World Toilet Organizations but also football clubs like FC Bayern München (strategic partner), Hamburger SV and Juventus Turin. WASH United is financially supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dear SUSANA colleagues, I would like to forward this newsletter of the NGO ‘Children Without Worms', where the current discussion on mass deworming is addressed. Best regards Bella Bella Monse GIZ Philippines Link to the newsletter: www.childrenwithoutworms.org/quarterly-dose First image of newsletter: Begin forwarded message: (note by moderator: the ne […]

Dear Graham, I think the BSF (black soldier fly) would not be grown inside of the pit but at an external place as it needs rather controlled conditions, and probably more oxygen than what would be available inside of the pit. Or perhaps I misunderstood your question? Regards, Elisabeth

Hi Eng. Mughal I very well agree with your observations. Tahunganh needs some assistance in substance. As far as I know, Dr. Barbara Senkwe PhD of USAID SUWASA has done such work in the South Sudan but I doubt if she is still available on her email address at bsenkwe@ard-suwasa.org as the project is winding up soon. We featured her article ‘An Emerging Fecal […]

Hi Virginia Thanks for your important work you are doing in Madagascar. The country was in focus in March this year as its president Mr. Hery Rajaonarimampianina became the first Chief of State in the world to sign a pledge in public to end open defecation. We presented a short mention of this in our Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene May-June 2015 editi […]

Hi Kris Thank you very much for your thoughts. We agree with your concerns. That's why we have given so much importance to develop the protocol so easy and cost effective which can potentially be done at the local level. However, phage therapy has been successful to treat diarrhoeal infection in human gut which is as complex as waste water system. Moreo […]

Integration of Nutrition and WaSH programmes was the key topic discussed at the multi sectorial panel seminar hosted by Irish Aid, the IFGH and the Development Studies Association of Ireland on the 19th May.

Sustainability is without doubt one of the most burning subject matters that subsumes many of the issues that we are seeing in CLTS and wider WASH practice.On Wednesday 24th June, from 14.00-15.30 BST (convert to your time zone here), the CLTS Knowledge Hub will offer a webinar on the subject.

Over 50 female leaders from around the world recently published a declaration calling for the end of poor sanitation and hygiene in the developing world. Among those leaders are the first ladies of Madagascar and Malawi, both of whom announced the declaration in Washington, D.C.